Have you been getting a lot of rain lately? It could just be seeping through the soil and seeping in, that happened in our basement once, I think. Or, it could be seeping into the *inside* of the wall from somewhere...

We've been having big storms lately. I think I have a solution, but I'll have to see when I get home.

The dampness is under a window, which makes an obvious entry point, but I can see no water damage or stains on the wall leading from the window to the baseboards. So, I think the leak is from the window, but going behind the wall itself to the floor.

I should be able to divert water away from the window and extend the rain spout a bit. I hope this is the cause. I might also need to dig up the garden my wife spent all that time on and put drains in.

I think I found the issue. The well in front of the window, the half circle aluminum dealie, has a gaping rust hole in it right along the house, and a few more cropping up. Guess I'll be replacing that in the near future.

i'm so sorry about your dog, him. pets are family, and it hurts to lose them. i hope you all have a good time in spain, though.

samsally - i am totally not an artist, but isn't a portfolio sort of an on-going thing? you keep doing all sorts of great stuff - i know it's hard to lose part of your history as an artist, but you will keep growing - so certainly the fact that you have lost part of what was your portfolio doesn't mean you can't ever get anywhere.

and also: external hard drive for backup, which you keep hidden somewhere away from the computer except when you are actually backing it up.

also also - would anyone else have printouts of the work you lost?_________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

Portfolios are an ongoing thing, but a portfolio can take a long time to make. And it can create a lot of anxiety, since the whole point of making one is to let people see what you can do - so of course you have to wonder, "Oh god, is this really all I'm capable of? I'm not good enough!" and "No one's really going to like this, I should give up now."

I'm so paranoid about losing my work that I tend to e-mail it to myself, store it in various cloud storage things, put it on multiple computers, and store it on USB sticks. But all that takes a lot of organization and tedious follow-through, so most everything is disorganized - and I somehow manage to delete things I actually need on all those places._________________::crisis mode::

i can see that - i was just thinking about a couple of people i know who are professional artists; preparing for a show seems to be this whole manic-depressive cycle: "i have the greatest idea ever!" "shit, this is never going to work!" "i have an even more brilliant idea that will fix it and also strengthen the message of the piece!" "shit, i have to get this done in two days and the critical bit keeps breaking!" "ok, i managed to get it in by the deadline but it was all rushed and it looks like crap!" and then they go to the opening and drink steadily while alternately lurking and popping up to explain their process, if someone seems interested.

but they have the advantage, now, of having a history of shows, so they can demonstrate that at least a few gallery owners thought their work was decent. starting out trying to convince people of this can't be fun._________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

i'm pretty sure most of my art that is worth anything at all was all on a computer that was stolen two years ago and i don't know what i'm going to do. i can't make a portfolio without actually reasonable art and i can't find any from the time frame i was making portfolio worthy stuff. its the one place i can't check because its gone.

i don't know what i'm going to do. i can't get it back. how can i get out of here if i can't even make a portfolio.

All of my hugs Sam, I would be absolutely devastated to lose bits of the work I loved._________________www.cobrasphinx.nl

well just the other night these cops pulled me over outside of a bar
they turned on their lights and they ordered me out of my car
man, I was only joking when I called 'em a couple of dicks
but still they made me do those stupid human tricks
so I got stuck in some jail with a bunch of dumb hicks
and I still don't why....

I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm an alright guy
I just wanna live until I gotta die
I know I ain't perfect but god knows I try
I think I'm an alright guy....

i'm pretty sure most of my art that is worth anything at all was all on a computer that was stolen two years ago and i don't know what i'm going to do. i can't make a portfolio without actually reasonable art and i can't find any from the time frame i was making portfolio worthy stuff. its the one place i can't check because its gone.

i don't know what i'm going to do. i can't get it back. how can i get out of here if i can't even make a portfolio.

All of my hugs Sam, I would be absolutely devastated to lose bits of the work I loved.

Hey who remembers that time I got super drunk, watched Star Trek TOS episodes, and liveblogged my feelings all over sinfest?

Good times, good times.

Anyway Thank you everyone for being nice to me about losing all that art. I'm mostly avoiding thinking about it and swinging wildly between emotions. Thy: I don't have the serial number, sadly, and they never did find it. Reminds me I should jot down the serial number on my current computers, though, and hide 'em somewhere._________________Samsally the GrayAce